Location: Saba
After staring at the most ominous staircase I’ve ever seen for the past two days, it is finally time to swim ashore and ascend up this threatening case of rocky steps to find out what this island is all about. I woke the crew this morning and as we ate breakfast, I began to brief the crew on our day’s adventures. I took the opportunity I had as skipper to remind everyone on how much time we had left on our trip, to live in the now and soak up every moment they can. After clean up we made dingy runs to the point where the waves started to break then we jumped out and swam the rest of the way to shore to begin our ascent up the mountain. We climbed higher and higher up the menacing ladder and it zigzagged up the mountain at such a ridiculous angle. Finally, we made it passed the old customs building and the path began to straighten out but we soon realized we were only half way up the mountain side. The group staggered to the top and once we all made it passed the most intense morning hike of our lives we took a minute to catch our breath. We then continued up the 45 degree slope, which the locals call a rode, and once it flattened out we veered through the streets of the village known as Bottom Town. We meandered through town and eventually made it up to the next town known as Winward. This place soon became one of our favorite islands on the trip! It is made up of 1500 people consisting of med students, retirees and everything in between. We all met some really friendly and interesting folks. The crew then all met up at JoBeans glass bead making shop. Filled with some of the most unique, beautiful and awesome jewelry I’ve ever seen, the crew cycled through conveying the beads and glass marine animals. Some of us even got a chance to try glassblowing and ended up crafting their own novel creations. Stocked up on the coolest glass beads and pendants our families will ever see, we traversed the hills back to Windward and hit up Scout’s Place, known for their incredible pirate dcor and the “Meanest burger in town”. After lunch we started to head back to the boat and on the way we ended up conversing with one of the cooler locals I could have met. Some stories were exchanged and eventually we said our goodbyes to this cool man. The rest of the crew and I found ourselves back at the top of the ladder where our venture first started. With our gear in trash bags to keep them dry, we swam out to the dingy. Once back on board Ocean Star we got started on passage prep for our last night passage. We shared a delicious spaghetti dinner and then finished plotting our charts and headed out to sea. With the sails raised and the full moon on our backs, I took the helm and started the sail back to the BVI. Back to the islands where we embarked on this incredible and radical once in a lifetime nautical adventure. With another day past I looked towards the next with anticipation of what it will bring. I plan on making the most out of this last week of the trip and I hope you all at home can wait just one more week for us to soak it up. setdate:2012-11-29